Motor-meter for alternating currents and method of operating the same.



No. 845,155. PATENTED FEB 5, 1907. R. 0. LANPHIER.

MOTOR METER FOR ALTERNATING OURRENTS AND METHOD OF OPERATING THE SAME.

APPLIOATION FILED APR. 27. 1905.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

M W A ia 110+) 17 No. 843,155. PATENTED FEB. 5, 1907.

v R. G. LANPHIER. MOTOR METER FOR ALTBRNATING CURRBNTS AND METHOD OF OPERATING THE SAME.

APPLICATION FILED APB.27.1906.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

Gummy UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ROBERT C. LANPIIIER, OF SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO SANGAMO ELECTRIC COMPANY, or SPRINGFIELD, ILLINO S, A con- PORATION- OF ILLINOIS.

MOTOR-METER FOR ALTERNATING CURRENTS METHOD OF OPERATING THE SAME.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 5, 1907.

To all whomit may concern: 7

Be it known that I, ROBERT C. LANPHIER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Springfield, in the county of Sangamonand State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Motor-Meters for Alternating'Currents and Methods ofOpcrating the Same, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accom anying drawings.

y invention relates to an improved motor-meter of the mercury type for alternating It has for another object a new and improved method of operating such a meter by alternating currents of electricity to register as a watt-hour meter. Heretofore mercurymeters of this geiieral type have been principally used for measuring direct currents. Various devices, however, have been invented and constructed whereby mercury-meters of this type might be used to register alternating currents. For instance, meters of this type have been constructed in which the main oad alternating current has been passed throu h the mercury-chamber and across the dish and the electromagnet energized by a shunt-current, the shunt being brought into zero-phase relation with the impressed electromotive force by means of a condenser located in series with the energizing-coils, and a mechanism of this nature has been shown and described by me in a pending application for Letters Patent, Serial No 223,693, filed September 8, 1904. In the practical operation, however, of such a meter with a condenser a difiiculty arises, owing to the variations in frequency of the alternating current. When such variations 1n frequency occur under the well-known law of operation of a condenser, inaccuracies in the operationof the meter are at once produced,

the meter running too slow as such variations in frequency occur.

It is the object of my invention to produce new and improved devices by me ans of which these difficulties may be overcome and a motor-meter of the mercury type be produced which will register accurately as a watt-hour meter on an alternatin current regardless of any such differences in equency in the alternatin current. Generally speaking, I accornp ish this end by energizing the magnet by means of a few turns of relatively heavy wire through which the main-loadcurrent or a current proportional to the main-load current upon the meter is passed and by directing through the chamber and across the armature a secondary induced current of low potential proportional to the circuit-pressure and of large volume and approximately one hundred and eighty degrees in phase from the impressed electromotive force.

I accomplish these objects as illustrated in the drawings and set-forth in the claims.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a side view of my new and improved meter, partially in vertical section and showing the windings diagrammatically, the supporting-casing and non-essential parts not being shown for the urpose of clearness of illustration; and Fig. 2 1s a side elevation of my meter as applied to a three-wire circuit, showing the windings diagrammatically. Fig. 3 is a vector diaggram illustrating the operation, neglecting the magnetic lag in the series magnetic field. Fig. 4 is a vector diagram illustrating the operation of the meter with the magnetic lag of the series field taken into account.

3 indicates the body or chamber-casing of the meter, which is formed ofnon-magnctic material and contains a chamber 4, adapted to contain mercury. The chamber 4 is proyidcd with an enlarged portion 5.

6 indicates an electromagnet having polepicces 6 6 The electromagnet and polepieccs are preferably formed of laminated soft iron, and the pole-pieces penetrate the casing to the chamber 4. 7 indicates a disk, preferably formed of copper, which is mounted upon a spindle 8, journaled in said casing 3. The disk 7 is formed of very thin material and is provided with a buoyancy or I flotation chamber 9, adapted to float the disk with its attached parts, hereinafter described, slightly upward. The upper end of the spindle 8 rests against a jewel-bearing 10.

11 indicates a brake-disk mounted upon the spindle 8 and acted upon by damping magnets 12.

26 indicates a magnetic return-plate embedded in the body of the casing 3.

The construction of the disk, with its flotation-chamber, is: the same as shown in the application for Letters Patent by me, Serial No. 275,437, filed August 23, 1905. The casing 3, the brake-disk and its accompanying braking-magnets, and the pole-pieces 6 of the energizing-electromagnet may be of any well known and approved form andconstruction and form in themselves no part of my present invention.

13 indicates the supply-transformer of the system, to which the meter is connected.

14 indicates the main load-circuit, and. 15 the translating devices in said circuit.

16 indicates a winding for the electromagnet 6, consisting of a few turns of heavy wire connected in series with the load on the main circuit.

17 indicates a step-down low-potential transformer which in the actual construction will be placed within the outside casing of the meter. (N ot shown.)

18 indicates the primary of the transformer 1 7, which is connected across the mainload circuit.

19 indicates the secondary of the transformer, whose terminals are connected with terminals 20 21, which open into the mercurychamber 4.

The step-down transformer 17, as was said, is of low potential and is so constructed and built with a closed magnetic circuit as to produce in its secondary winding 19 a pressure about one hundred and eighty degrees from the impressed electromotive force on the circuit.

22 indicates an inductance-coil located in the circuit of the secondary cf the transformer 19.

23 indicates a few turns of a winding of fine wire tapped across the secondary of the transformer and having in series an adjustable non-inductive resistance 24 with a movable contact 25, whereby the resistance ma be varied.

It will be obvious that the mercury-chamber 4 and armature 7, forming a portion of the secondary circuit of the transformer 17,

will have practically no sell-induction. As has been said, the transformer 17 1s a lowpotential transfor1ner-that is to say, is so constructed that a currentoi low potential and of relatively large volume is produce-1i in 1 ment is properlv made, the meterwill obthe secondary circuit. The transformer. therefore, being so constructed to produce a pressure of, say, one-hirtieth to onetenth of a volt in the secondary, so that a current .of, say, from ten to fifteen amperes will pass through the circuit and through the mercury-chamber and across rent will obviously vary directly with any variations of the impressed electromotive force. The main or series coil 16 wound upon the laminated core of the electromagnet 6 will produce in the gaps between the polepieces 6 6 and the return-plate 26 within the chamber 4, in which the disk 7 rotates,- a magnetic fiuX which will vary in intensity with the amount of the main-load current and will also vary in its phase relation with the impressed electromotive force as the current through the winding 16 varies according to the nature of the load on the meter. Since the current flowing between the terminals 20 and 21 across the disk 7 is constant if the voltage remains constant, and since the magnetic field produced by the windings 16 varies directly with the load-current, it is evident that the product of these two factors will produce a torque upon the disk 7 proportional to the true wattage of the load and that any difference in phase between the cur rent in the disk and the magnetic field will be taken into account. As the magnetic field is alternating, it is evident that there will be practically no damping effect upon the armature 'as the load increases, and hence no error will be introduced into the meter, as would be the case if a direct current were assed through the'windings 16 under simiar circumstances. As the windings 16 consist, as has been said above, of a few turns of heavy wire, what slightinductance may be caused therein is negligible because of the much greater drop in pressure through the load beyond. For instance, and for the sake of illustration, if the reactive drop across the windings 16 is one-fourth of a volt and the meter is connected to. a one-hundred-andten-volt circuit, the drop through the load is obviously nearly five hundred times as greatas that through the windings 16, and therefore the self-induction of the windings being relatively so small is negligible and will cause no appreciable error. Owing to the well known fact, however, of hysteresis, the mag netism produced in the electromagnet 6 will have some lag, and for this reason I have introduced into the secondary circuit of the transformer a few turns of inductive Winding 22, which are in series with the armature and which maybe varied in any well-known way so as to cause a slight lag in the Current pass ing through the seecmlarv circuit of the transformer and through the armature to conform with the slight lagging effect in, the series lield due to the hysteresis in the iron of the eleetromagnet. \Yhen this adjustriouslr measure true energv under all conditions of load, whether the load be inductive or non-inductive.

The function oftho transformer is twofold, first. to give a very low potential proportionthe disk, this curl ate'to the circuit-pressure (impressed electromotive force) which shall be available for as the current passing through the shunt ele-u IO ment is not measured by the meter. The

nature of the secondary winding (if the transformer and its relations to the other parts and the circuit through the armature must be such that the large current through the r armature shall be substantially one hundred and ei hty degrees out of phase with theimpresser electromotive force (the circuit-pressure on the transformer primary) in order that the meter shall measure true energy upon either a non-inductive or an inductive load. This operation is illustrated and made clear by the vector-diagrams, Figs. 3 and 4. In Fig.3 the operation is illustrated without taking into account the slight lag caused by hysteresis in the electromagnet. In that diagram E is a vector showing in time, direction, and magnitude the circuit-pressure or primary electromotive force on meter-transformer. C is a load-current of, say, ten am- 0 peres, non-Inductive, and hence along the same line as E. C; is the same amount of load lagging, say, a -that is, a load of .707 power factor. E is the secondary electromotive force of the transformer, which 3 5 is almost exactly one hundred and eighty degrees in phase from E C is the cur-' rent sent through the disk by E in phase with E as the disk-circuit is assumed under the present circumstances to be entirely non-inductive. Now C niay be considered as reversed inthe direction of E" and C this meaning simply a reversal of connections, as is well understood, as C" is one hundred and eighty degrees from E". Since G 5 is equivalent, therefore, to being in'phase with E", the torque exerted upon the armature carrying current C by the field pro.- duced in the laminated magnet by current C or C through the series-coil will be exactly proportional to the true watts, neglecting, as has been stated in this case, any magnetic la in the field-magnet.

vn Fig. 4 a vector-diagram is shown in which the slight lag in the series-field mag- 5 5 netisin from the phase of the load-current and which actually exists, as has been stated above, in practice is shown. The lettering E E C C and 0; indicate the same a the lettering in Fig. 3, above set forth. In this case, however, the field magnetism lags in phase by the angle from the current producing it. Hence for non-inductive load C the magnetic vector is M and for inductive load of forty-five degrees lag the mag- 6 5 netic vector is M Hence with this actual condition, it is necessary to give -a slight equal lag to the disk-current an order that the torque at all power factors of load shall be proportional to the waits, as will be seen from the vector-diagram? This -slight lag-is ob- 7o tained in the meter by the few turns of inductive winding 22 in series between the secondary of the transformer and the disk-circuit above described, which may be readily adjusted initially in any well-known manner 7 5 to make the meter correct under all condi- .tions of load. I

"Irrord'er to overcome any slight initial friction which might exist in the meter and to make it read correctly on a very light .load, the windings 23, above described, and

consisting of a few turns of comparatively fine wire,.are placed upon the core of the electromagnet 6 and connected across the secondary circuit of the-transformer with tl e 8 5 non-inductive resistance 24 and adjustable contact.25 in series. By means of this adjustable resistance the meter can be set exactly correct on avery light load, as'theturns 23 will produce the necessary constant initial field in correct phase with the current through the armature to give a slight initial torque. This method, however, of overcoming initial friction .and of causing the meter to run correctly on slight load may be 5 varied in other well-known ways and forms of itself no part of my resent invention.

In Fig. 2 I have s own a meter of this type arranged for the ordinary three-wire system. In this figure 3 indicates the casno ing inclosing the mercury-chamber and disk.

6 indicates the electromagnet having'polepieces 6* 6". 17 indicates the low-potential transformer having a primary 18 and secondary 19 with the inductance-coil 22, all 0p ro5 eratin in the same manner, as above described, and whose connections are obvious from the diagram 16 indicates a seriescoil connected in one outer wire 14 of the system, and 16 a series-coil of an equal num r1o ber of turns with 16, connected on the other; outer'wire 14 winding 16. The coils 16f and 16 consist, as was the case of the coil 16 above described, of a few turns of heavy copper wire, each of the same number of I15 turns and wound upon the core of themagnet 6. I have shown this method of applying my invention to a three-\i'ire. system for purposes of illustration and .to show how it may be applied to such a system. As the mere I20 application of my invention to a three-wire system does not of itself form any part of my present invention it is believed that no further description of this arrangement is necessary here.

' It will be understood, of course, that the spindle of the armature will be connected to a suitable registering train and that all the operative parts in actual construction] .will be inclosed in an outer casing. As these parts, however. may be of any Well-known form and construction and their structure and operation is clearly understood, I havej omitted them from the drawings and de scription for the purpose of clearness of illustration of the essential feat tires oi my inven- I chamber adapted to contain a conducting fluid, an armadure rotatable therein, and a field-magnet adapted to act upon said armature to cause rotation, of an energizing- Wlndnig for saul magnet carrying current proportional-t o the load uponthe meter, and a transformer having its primary winding in derivation to the load-circuit and its sec-. ondary winding connected to terminals derivation to the load-circuit and its secondadapted to direct its current across the armature, substantially as described.

2. In a motor watt-hour meter for alternating currents, the combination with a chamber adapted to contain a conducting tluid, an armature rotatable therein. and a field-magnetadapted to act upon said armature to cause rotation, of an energizirig-winding for said magnet carrying current pro tional to the load upon the meter. and a l()\\' potential transformer having its pr mary Winding in derivation to the load-circuit and its secondary Winding connected to terminals adapted to direct its current across the armature, substantially as described.

3. In a motor Watt-hour meter for alternating currents, the combination with a chamber adapted to contain conducting fluid,

an armature rotatable therein, an electromagnet having pole-pieces approaching said armature at each side of its center, and a magnetic return-plate, of an energizing-winding for said in agnet in series with the main load-circuit, and a transformer having its p11- inary winding in derivation to the load-circuit and its secondary winding connected. to terminals adapted to direct its current across the. arm ature, substantially as descril'ied.

4. In a notor watt-hour nteter for alternating currents, the co ibin'ation with a 'chanber adapted to contain conducting ll: .id,

an armature. rotatable therein, an electromagnet having pole'pieces approaching said ar nature at each side of its center, and a magnetic return-plate, of an energizing-winding for said niagnetin series with the train load-circuit, and a low-potential step-down transformer having its primary winding in derivation to the load-current and its secondary Winding connected to terninals adapted ,to direct its current across the armature, substantiall3- as described por- 5. In a motor watt-hour meter for alternating currents, the combination with a cha nber adapted to cont-ainnercitry, an arn'atzzre rotatable therein, and an electromagnct adapted to produce energizing-iields of opposite polarity on each side of the center of rotation of said 'nature, oi an energizing winding for said magnet carrying current proportional to the load, and a step-d wn transformer having its primary winding in derivation to the load-circuit; and its secondary Winding connected to terminals adapted to direct its current across the armature, subtantially as described. v

6. In a motor Watt-hour nieter'tor alternating currents, the combination with a chainber ad aptedto contain conducting lhz id an armature rotatable therein, and a fieldmagnet adapted to act upon said armature to c: e rotation, 01. an energizing-Winding for said u :zgnet carrying current proportional to the load upon the meter, a low-potential transl'orner having its primary winding in ar v winding connected to tertiinals. adapted to direct its current across the armature, and an adjustable inductance in'series with. said secondar winding.

T. In a motor watt-hour meter for alteri'iating currents. the co.-i;biia.tion wvith a chairber adapt d tocontain conductingiiluid, an arm at: rc rotatable therein, and a fieldinagnct adapted to act upon said arn'ature to carsc rotation. o" an energizing-winding for said zragnct in series with the translating devices. and a transformer adapted to direct through the ariz'att'tre a secondary current oi low potential proportional to the pressure upon the circuit to which the llIPlPI' is connected.

S. The method of operating a mercury watt-hour nteter upon alternating current, whichconsists in passing through the artrature a low-potential induced current proportional to the circiitprcsscre, and in causing a train cirrrent-energizing iield to react; upon said lmv-potential induced current to produce rotation of the armature, substantially as described.

9. The method of operating b alternating current a motor watt-hour netcr having a 111(?IC1'I \('l1:ili1liQl, an arn'atrre in said chamher, and a iragnetic energizing-held adapted to act upon said araati re to produce rotation, which consists in passing through the armature a low-potential induced current proportional to the circui-t-pressure. and in passing through the energizing-winding ot the niagnet the train lt)zttlt'Ul1Clit or a. de rived current proportional thereto.

ROBERT t. LANPIHER.

\Vitnesses:

(7. E. PIGKARD, MINNIE A. HUNTER,

It is hereby certified that in Letters Patent No. 843,155, granted February 5, 1907,

upon the' application Of Robert G. Lanphier, of Springfield, Illinois, for an improvement in Motor-Meters for Alternating Currents and Methods of Operating the Same, errors occur in the printed specification requiring correction, as follows: In line 58, page 3, the letter a should read asyand-invline 69, same page, the word waits should read watts; and that the said Letters Patent sheuld be read with these corrections therein that the same may conform to the reeord of the case in the Patent Office.

Signed and sealed this 5th day of March, A. D., 1907,

5th. F. I. ALLEN,

Commissioner of Patents. 

